Page 26 of Love of the Game
I yelled. We all did. Drake led the line for fist bumps. When he settled into his spot on the bench he turned to Bike. “What a pass! Perfect. You’re great, man.”
This time, Mac actually smiled. A tiny one, but yeah. Drake had certainly turned around from the grumpy, seemingly arrogant player who’d arrived a few days ago.
Unfortunately, the Pickaxes tied it up near the end of the period. “Don’t worry, boys,” I said. “We can get it back.”
“Goalie’s rattled,” Drake said during intermission, to no one in particular. “We get some chances off the rush, they’ll go in.”
Nods around the room at that.
Drake was right. Early in the second, when Alfie and I got chance on a two on one, I faked a shot, passed to Alfie, and he slammed it home. Top shelf. All because the goalie overcommitted to me. Thank God my pass had been on point. It wasn’t always.
When I got back to the bench, I ended up next to Drake. “Nice sauce on that pass,” he said.
“Luck,” I replied.
“No. You knew what you were doing.” He said it so mater-of-fact that I nearly believed him. Felt like our role had somehow switched, and he was encouraging me.
Of course, the home team would not go away quietly, so ofcoursethey scored once more near the end of the period.
“Fuck,” I muttered. Goddamned screened shot. Not a thing Ivan could’ve done about it. “We’ll get it back.”
During the second intermission, Mac shook up our lines, and suddenly, Drake was with me and Alfie on the top line. No one complained. When we went over the boards to take a faceoff outside the Pickaxes’s defensive zone. Drake won it back to our D and, as Drake entered the zone, I saw the play unfolding. The way he and Alfie rotated. The way the puck was passed back to the D then up and I knew exactly where I needed to be, especially since not a single Pickax player was watching me.
It was only a surprise to the home team when I skated to the crease, planted my stick, and tipped Drake’s shot past the goalie’s pads. A moment later, I was engulfed in a hug from Drake. “Yeah!” he shouted, “Let’s fucking go!” The rest of the guys crushed me and patted me on the head, then we skated toward the bench for fist bumps.
The arena went silent, but for the cheers of the smattering of our fans in the stands and our bench.
This time, the Pickaxes didn’t score near the end of the period, even when they pulled their goaltender to go after us at six on five. After a broken faceoff, Lou managed to get the puck to Drake and he flung it at the empty net with such precision that it hit dead center, even though he was on our side of our blue line.
Game over. We won four to two. Drake had played like the pro he was. I’d even gotten a goal. Alfie was all smiles and the locker room was a riot, as if we’d made it into the playoffs. The boys were all yelling “Dragon!” and congratulating Drake on his three-point night.
I stood back, taking the time to watch them and him and soak in that smile of his. He was as bright as his blond hair and blue eyes. High summer, that man. Not a cloud in his sky right now. This was what I’d set out to do, put that smile on his face.
Hopefully the confidence would lead to more points and more goals and the continuation of that happiness. Drake wasn’t built to be storm-cloud gray all the time. This was so much better.
When I moved to my stall to strip off my gear, his gaze met mine, and he crossed the room to pull me into a hockey bro hug and whispered, “Thank you,” into my ear.
“Are you kidding? That was all you.” I gripped his shoulder and met his gaze.
Fire there, among the joy. “Not all me. Your visualization helped, too.”
Exactly what I wanted.
After we’d all cleaned up and devoured our post-game meal, Mac pulled me aside. “Don’t get your heart broken,” he said.
That was not at all what I expected to hear. “Me?” was all I could get out with my mind whirling.
Mac snorted. “I see the way you look at him, and I’ve seen that look before on people.”
Uh oh. “I’m not… he’s not… we’re not…”
“Yeah, you are, Jonny. In deep. Kid’s gonna go back up, you know that.”
I did. And Pittsburgh was a world away for me, more orless, despite its closeness. “My heart’s fine. And he’s fine. And I know they’re going to call him up. That’s the whole point of this.” I waved my hand. “Of me being captain. He’s not the first guy they’ve sent down for us to patch up and give back.”
Mac snorted again. “He’s the first one you’ve ever looked at like he’s the moon and the sun for your sky.”
When the hell had Mac gotten poetic? “It’s fine. I’ll be okay.”
